Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 519 031 The Glorious Battle of the Gulf of Finland (Part 2)

The battle at sea did not appear to be one-sided, entirely because the Swedish Navy was moving too slowly. When the Centaur and the Ruthless broke through the blockade from the Russian frigates, the Grace and the Warrior turned to deal with the subsequent Swedish Navy battleships.

At this time, the battle became a battle in which each chose its opponent, but this choice was mainly a unilateral call by Russia against the Swedish Navy.

After the Grace and the Warrior attacked in front and severely damaged the bow of the Gustav IV, they went around and encountered the single column of the Swedish Navy's Type 64 warships.

Although the single column formation means a big fight, the Swedish Navy's formation was obviously a one-sided fight.

However, the opponent chosen by the "Grace" was the "Vladislav" captured by the Swedish Navy. To be honest, the Swedish army had more ships captured by the Baltic Fleet, but this third-level ship was already a pillar in the weaker Swedish Navy.

If the British were excluded, these Russian warships would have advantages at every level. The "Vladislav" was an early Russian battleship, a product of the last Russian-Swedish war. This kind of warship, even if placed on the Russian Navy, has begun to fall behind in performance.

However, for the entire battlefield, the Russian Navy really had to give priority to destroying these 70 and 74-type battleships. After defeating these battleships, even if the British made a fuss at the end of the team, the outcome of the battle would have been determined.

However, the Swedes still had to resist to some extent, and even struggled to use the two battleships "Vladislav" and "Honor" to attack the "Grace".

It was just that the guns on the two warships barely surpassed their opponents, so they would naturally be beaten here.

Even Kron was not very anxious, and Solovyov was a little anxious watching on the deck.

"It's so close, why don't you open fire?"

"Count, your army is still close to the bayonet. Although I may be hit by a few shells first, they will almost be killed by a volley."

Solovyov was relieved by this. Besides, letting Kron command is better than Hanikov's Fang Boqian behavior of running away without fighting, right?

As for the "Grace" getting closer and closer, even without firing a shot, the Swedes were a little panicked. They first fired some chain bullets and grapeshot in an attempt to kill people, but considering the structure of the "Grace", the damage to the marines and crew on the deck might be even greater.

And the loss of rigging means breaking the sails.

Kron also sneered at this style of fighting, and did not forget to mock: "It's really a weaker style than the French, but the French are brave warriors who will not surrender until everyone is injured and the ship starts to sink. The Swedes still use this style of fighting, but they will continue to be beaten."

"Now we are closer, Robert."

"Don't worry, it will be more effective if we shoot 30 yards closer!"

Compared to when he was the captain of a frigate, this is obviously a more dangerous approach. At that time, he chased the enemy's buttocks and shot.

As for getting closer, the pre-loaded solid bullets can also play a role.

"Count, just remember that grapeshot may not be useful on a ship, solid bullets are more powerful!"

"Of course, if the wood chips break, they can still cause casualties to personnel!"

"You understand very well! It's a pity not to be a navy, especially since you have such a loud voice!"

Soloviev suddenly got a chill. It seems that Corporal Morishita has learned the British way. No wonder he "want to drive a warship with such a low voice". The ancestor also has a problem!

As for getting closer, Kron ordered to fire with the port guns in succession instead of firing all at once.

After all, he still cherishes the warship very much, and this kind of successive firing instead of general salvos, if the next round is reloaded, it should be free firing.

If it is a round of salvos, fortunately, it is not the era of multi-turret holy objects, it will still hurt the warship.

Kron's wife has returned to her parents' home with her children. If he is allowed to command the warship here, he may take better care of it than his own daughter.

In this case, it is natural to shoot freely with unlimited solid bullets, which is more conducive to the gunners to perform. They can reload quickly, fire a second round of salvos, and cause greater damage.

Moreover, after the "Honor" on the other side approached, their artillery fire could not cause any damage to the huge "Grace".

As for Samuel Hood, he could only attack the warships at the end of the Russian battle line after rushing out of the formation of the Russian frigates, while observing the situation of the Swedish naval fleet.

"Sir, it seems that our friendly forces are in big trouble!"

"There must be something wrong with these damn ships! But if we get rid of these Russian third-level ships, they will chase us to join the battle, and the situation will only be worse."

"What should we do then?"

"First, attack the rear of his team and disrupt the Russian formation. We can run away. If the friendly forces can hold on, we can also find a way to bring them out. Bill, we have to think about ourselves. The battlefield is not about being a hero. The first thing is not to be eliminated, and then to attack the enemy."

Samuel Hood Jr.'s experience should be said to be the price of his brother's death, a sword in the thigh, and a broken arm. Although the Royal Navy has always been fierce, it has to consider its own safety under disadvantageous conditions.

Like him, he is not willing to die for his friends, and he also intends to pull the friendly forces out. He is considered to have a high moral integrity.

In comparison, Nelson's moral integrity was not so high. He attacked the neutral army, slept with his friend's wife and had a threesome in public without any scruples. He and Mrs. Hamilton found an opportunity to hang an Italian colleague favored by his old boss because he was supported by the Naples Republicans as the naval commander.

It is even more unimaginable that his illegitimate daughter Horatia Nelson later became a lady, which is very different from her parents who are like dogs and bitches.

But Little Hood still gave priority to dealing with the Russian warships in front of him, but the captain of the "Froschwold", Rudnev, was not a vegetarian. Since you British dare to come, I dare to fight.

When the artillery fire of both sides intertwined, the battle was still very fierce. The two British warships also relied on their own "illegal modifications" to obtain stronger firepower than the same-class ships. Therefore, when two against one, the firepower was absolutely superior.

The Russian battleships in front were too late to support the "Floshevod" at the end of the team, but Rudnev calmly fought at this time. Even if he was injured by flying sawdust and grapeshot, he still insisted on fighting at the command position.

Speaking of which, the captain of the "Varyag" armored cruiser that was ambushed in Incheon during the Russo-Japanese War was also named Rudnev. It seems that this surname is particularly unlucky. He always takes the hardest work and suffers the most vicious beating, and then behaves very tenaciously.

Hood and Martin also noticed that even though their shells kept hitting the Russian ships and various shells caused huge casualties to the opponents, the Russians were still resisting desperately, and the two British ships were also hit by some shells one after another. In this case, it would probably be difficult to quickly eliminate the opponents.

You know, for a battleship in the sail era, the effective ammunition on a gun position is only a few dozen rounds. If the cannons on the adjacent gun positions are damaged, but the gunpowder barrels and shells are fine, they can still fire a batch of ammunition. If the other side does not fire, they can also replenish it.

However, if the gunners and sailors are lost, it will be a big trouble.

Seeing that the troubles on his side are getting bigger and bigger, Little Hood began to consider retreating, and also took a look at the Swedes.

"What the hell! It looks like we can consider turning around!"

"Sir, why do you say that?"

"Look over there, Bill, what are our outstanding allies doing now?"

William Webb used a telescope to look at the place where the Swedish Navy and the main Russian army were fighting, and he saw a one-sided massacre.

After two salvos, the "Grace" caused more than 100 casualties to the "Vladislav". The battleship was beaten to lower the flag and surrender without leaking, most of the gun positions were still there, and only some sails were damaged.

As for the "Honor" that came to support, it was hit continuously by the firepower from the other side of the "Grace", which caused a large-scale fire.

For a warship, there are areas full of gunpowder and various flammable materials. When such a thing happens, either prepare to abandon the ship or consider your own affairs. As for the explosion of this warship, it was still after most of the crew abandoned the ship, and there were still many people who jumped into the sea to survive.

As for the scale of the explosion, considering that the warships of the Swedish Navy are not very large, it can only be said that it caused a certain impact. The "Brave" behind this warship barely passed the area where the "Honor" was located and continued to move forward to engage in the battle, but it was also hit by a round of salvos from the "Warrior" behind the "Grace".

In this case, the rigging of the "Brave" was greatly damaged, and the captain of the "Warrior" only used solid bullets to greet it, causing the waterline of this Swedish warship to be hit several times, and a large amount of water began to enter.

As for whether the ship would tilt to one side and sink, it was not a problem for the "Warrior". After the "Grace" squeezed through, a huge gap had been opened in the single column of the Swedish Navy.

"See, they can only be hit by us at will now, and the entire line has been interrupted. Even you, Count, can command this fleet to defeat the enemy, as long as you don't run away and dare to command the battle at your position."

"The Swedes at sea are really hard to beat"

When Solovyov complained like this, the battles between several battleships had already been decided.

At first, Kron and Solovyov saw 11 battleships. They didn't expect that there were 2 Type 64 battleships in poor condition at the end of the Swedish army. After this series of fierce battles, 2 of the 11 battleships of the Swedish Navy had been sunk, 1 had surrendered, and 2 were now turning around and fleeing.

Among the remaining 6 battleships, the "Gustav IV" as the flagship had lost its combat effectiveness, and even its mast had been broken. Only a few guns could still fire. If there had not been an admiral on board, they would have learned advanced experience from others long ago.

As for the other ships, they encountered Russian battleships that were stronger than themselves. The firepower of the "Flora" following the battle line was very close to theirs. It was obvious that the battle was about to end.

At this time, the "Grace" and "Warrior", which had already made a roundabout turn, cut off the Swedes' retreat, and the front line led by the "Gabriel" and "Bold" also made an arc towards these battleships of the Swedish Navy.

The Swedish frigates and the battleships at the rear of the team had already run away, and now was the time for the final attack. The "Frosewold" was still being beaten by the British!

Kron also planned to deal with his old colleague in the end, and even sent a flag signal to demand the Swedes to surrender.

However, they still dared to fight back with cannons, and hit the "Bold", causing certain losses.

In this case, Kron was no longer polite and sent out the signal for the final general attack of each ship.

The remaining few Swedish battleships, even if they still had combat power, had their rigging broken one after another, and the stern was also hit by a salvo of Russian warships.

Even the "Tragic Goddess", a level 6 ship that had been interfering with the British ships on the periphery, came to join in the fun, and Bellingshausen even forced one of the "Vasa" battleships to stop.

Considering that this battleship was sandwiched by two Russian Type 74 battleships on both sides, it was not surprising that it surrendered.

In this way, the results of the battle were already very brilliant. In about an hour and a half, the main force of the Swedish Navy had been almost resolved, and only two battleships and all frigates fled towards Gotland Island.

Now it is the two battleships of Major General Samuel Hood and Colonel Martin who have to face the attack of all the warships of the Russian Navy. This is not an easy task. You should know that among the 9 battleships of the Russian Navy, the losses of the other 8 are not great. Even the "Grace" only lost a few guns, and its combat effectiveness was not affected much.

In this naval battle in the Gulf of Finland, it is now the turn of the Russian fleet to deal with the two British warships.

There is no way, who made the Swedes today such a vulnerable teammate?